Page 73 of The Fix

“Mama.”

I’m slow to glance over my shoulder, and when I do, I find Toby’s hand held out in offering. There’s still a slight chill to his skin when my palm slides into his, but it still sends a swirl of warmth through me at his touch.

He pulls me to my feet and his arms envelop me, holding me close to his chest. “Why the hell didn’t you come get me?”

I shrug against his torso, my nose buried in his chest, his scent intoxicating. “Didn’t really think much about how cold it got in here. We’re in the dang mountains.”

His grip moves to my biceps and pulls me back enough to look down at me with a grit to his jaw. “I’m gonna need you to not get so damn distracted.”

“Wasn’t distracted,” I argue but tilt my head forward, seeking him out.

A lazy smile spreads across my face when he does exactly what I want and wraps his massive arms around me. My cheek squishes against his pec, my arms sliding around his trim waist.

It’s so tender, his touch at the back of my head, that it makes my heart pound.

So unlike Toby.

We’ve been intimate in all the physical ways one can when it comes to sex, but this feels like a whole other level of soul-deep connection.

There’s no dirty talk. No foreplay.

Just us. Here. In front of a fire, in a cabin, together.

“Fuck,” Toby rumbles on a rocky whisper, his fingers threading into my hair and tugging my head back. “What are you doing to me, Mama?”

Those deep brown eyes of his bounce between mine, so clear and soulful.

He really is beautiful.

All thick hair and a sinful smile …

I stifle my groan by biting my lip, my gaze clashing with his heated one. “Probably the same thing you’re doing to me,” I admit on a loaded whisper.

His other hand moves from my waist to my jaw, the roughness of his calloused fingertips scraping over my skin in a way that I feel it down to my curling toes.

When the move has me sinking my teeth further into my lip, his eyes darken. And when he backs us up to a wall and a gasp escapes me at the contact, he slams his lips against mine.

A burning kiss that sears me straight to my core as his tongue takes everything I’m willing to give and then some.

What is he doing to me?

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Anna

I’m not sure exactly when Toby fell into my bed along with me, or why I never threw a fit about it all those weeks ago, but tonight is no different than it has been.

He stayed awake to mess around with his guitar while I retired some time ago, alone, yet am awakened by the man climbing into bed with me.

He doesn’t touch me, like most nights. Doesn’t scoot close or even steal the covers.

Pretending I’m still passed out, just like I do every night he comes in, I resist my protesting huff when a chill flutters beneath the covers.

He was right, it’s definitely colder in here tonight.

It’s quickly replaced when his body heat takes over, the radiator of a man sealing the heatwaves in with us.

“Mama,” he whispers so quietly into the night, it almost sounds like a plea.

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